Price of citizenship, green cards rises sharply

Pro-immigration groups say they object to costs

May 30, 2007|By Michael Hedges Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON — Despite criticism from immigrant advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers, the Bush administration made final Tuesday a new set of fees that will significantly raise the cost of becoming a U.S. citizen or legal resident.

Beginning July 30, the citizenship fee will rise to $595 from $330. Those seeking to become legal permanent residents will see the cost nearly triple to $930, plus a fingerprinting charge.

But, in what U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services chief Emilio Gonzales said was a change in favor of families, the cost to process a child as a legal resident will be $600, down from the proposed $805.

That means a family of two adults and two children will pay $3,060 to become legal residents, compared with $1,100 under the current fees.

Pro-immigration groups said they were suffering sticker shock.

"We are deeply disappointed and deeply concerned. This is going to be a major barrier to many people seeking to experience the American dream," said Rosalind Gold, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "This will definitely put naturalization beyond the reach of many."

The changes are separate from the broad immigration bill being debated in Congress, which could alter the status of several million workers in the United States illegally.

Gonzales said the agency needs the additional $1 billion that the fee increases will raise to hire personnel, upgrade computer systems, train employees and make other improvements that will allow immigrants to be processed faster.

He said the agency considered more than 3,900 requests from the public to change the proposed rules after a draft of the fees was issued in February.

The feedback led to the new formula of raising the adult costs slightly for legal residency while cutting the costs for dependent children.

"As we looked around, we thought we might be able to lessen the load on families with lots of children," he said.

The agency gets more than 90 percent of its funding from the fees and will have a budget of about $2.3 billion after the new fee structure goes into effect, officials said.